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Wow man; your story is exactly like mine. Ran the 1.5 for a year or so put the Stage 2 stuff on it and ran it on the 1.5 tune. It ran fine and idled great. Put the Stage 2 software on there and it's been awful ever since. I'm kind of out of things to try honestly. I'll let you know if I come up with anything else. Call and tell Zak at active you're having the same issue. I wonder if some of it is altitude. Where are you at? I'm in Utah at about 5-6k feet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EpicM3SC

I had a Stage 1.5 for 2 years, the car was running perfectly fine, no issue at all.

Then I upgraded to Stage 2 a month ago. I first started the car with the Stage 1.5 tune to check if everything was ok before flashing the DME with the Stage 2 tune.
The car started instantaneously, the idle was perfect, no issue at all except that the car was running rich because of the new injectors.

Then I put the Stage 2 tune, and now my idle is not stable and the car sometimes stall coming to a stop.
I've checked my AFR, everything is fine when I drive the car, it's around 14.7 at stabilized speed and slowing climbing from 10.8 to 11.8 when I do a pull.
But at idle my AFR is around 17 which is way too lean.

Is it the tune or something else, I don't know.

Didn't had time to do more about the issue, except sending a mail to AA, but no response yet.

Man, I'm really getting frustrated. HPF with an AEM is sounding pretty damn good right about now.

I rigged up a system to pressure test my engine in lieu of a smoke machine (didn't want to wait for my friend to come up next weekend). I pressurized my system and fixed what could have been a minor boost leak - but probably not a vacuum leak. Now everything is solid under pressure. No leaks of any kind. Didn't make a bit of difference. I pull 15 in/Hg at cold idle. That seems rather low; but I think that may be an effect of the altitude (5500ft ish)?

I haven't gotten my wide band yet, but Epic's post sounds so close to mine I wouldn't be surprised if his readings are the same as mine. I think the only reason the 1.5 tune idles is because it's REALLY rich at idle.

In logging the OBD2 data from my car (PLX Kiwi FTW) - I observe my short term fuel trims are pretty high at idle. 25-40% positive fuel trim on all four banks. I noticed my fuel pressure was high at idle (50psi) and I was getting short term fuel trims in the 20-30% range. After I adjusted it to the spec'd 42psi I get the higher fuel trims as expected (needs to add even more fuel). It's also odd to watch my O2 voltages. They go from really lean to really rich - not much in the middle. Something is making dramatic knee-jerk corrections.

Now, as I understand it - this is usually indicative of a vacuum leak. This is because more air is entering the system than the ECU is anticipating and the O2 sensor reading is lean. So the ECU adds more fuel (via short term fuel trim) to attempt to correct this lean condition.

I'm REALLY sure I don't have a leak of any kind. A nice snapon smoke machine and my pressure test are pretty conclusive. So, either one of two things is happening - more air is coming in than the tune anticipates OR the tune is just really crappy and not delivering enough fuel given the larger injectors (could be altitude but I'm sure people with Stage 2 kits live in Denver and other high elevation places).

Now, as a logical person, I'm trying to think that if Active had this problem a lot in their Stage 2 kits we'd hear about it. But, I bet they sell a lot of Stage 1 and Stage 2 kit's - and perhaps even some Stage 1 - Stage 2 upgrades - and not as many Stage 1.5 -> 2 upgrade "kits". I'm guessing the issue is here somewhere. They send something or something is different when you get a full Stage 2 kit vs the Stage 1.5 upgrade.

I went from a Gen 6 Stage 1.5 kit to a Gen 7 Stage 2 kit. This included the new fuel system (fuel rail, lines, inline fuel pump), meth system, pully, larger injectors, and a new "log style" intake manifold. I took my bypass valves off my old square Gen 6 manifold and put them on the new one.

The only theory I have now is those bypass valves. I'm running a much smaller pulley on that supercharger now and it's positively pressurizing the intake a bit more than it used too (I assume). If those bypass valves are still setup for X (from the 1.5) - could I be over-over pressuring the manifold and adding more air than it anticipates? Other than that, I can only assume a bad base tune. Ugh.

What else could go wrong or be missed when you go from 1.5->2 instead of starting at 2 or going from 1-2? I'm on my 6th idle correction tune with no real difference (the ECU still has to add up to 40% fuel).

Gentlemen, I having the same problem with my VF kit, it is idling at AFR 17... I had a member explain to me that is the TPS, and to best deal with them is to change both of them at the same time. I will do this some time next week. I will keep you all updated.

When I got my 7th gen manifold I noticed it was such a tight fit to get it down. Make sure none of the hoses are kinked at all. Not running an oil catch can can deteriorate these hoses and can collapse easily. Why you would see a change in its behaviour is the fluctuation of size of the hose.

Re check the hardware and possibly change those TPS. The BOV should be flowing at idle, do not close them.

The stage 1-1.5-2 bump up kits are all the same. The difference is with 1.5 you have the intercooler already, possibly injectors opposed to going from 1-2 directly.

It's ALIVE! It works perfectly and it was exactly the first issue that A55A55IN pointed out - adaptations. I think it's a battle of ignorance. I was ignorant of exactly which adaptations to clear, the European auto shop that I had clear them with the Motec and Autologic systems either didn't know, or the machines were incapable of clearing these adaptations. Then, the BMW dealership must not have known which adaptations to clear.

Basically, I spent $200 at various shops and the dealership trying to get these things cleared. Active sent me one of their actual laptops - which turns out to be a standard PC with a USB-CAN adapter running an older version of the BMW software on it. Plugged it in, hit "Reset Adaptations" and we were in business.

Hard to believe they can make this kind of difference. At idle, running the Stage 1.5 tune I was seeing (+)30-40% fuel trims. After the reset, (-)25-30%. Seeing this, I flashed it back to the stock Stage 2 tune and am now seeing (-)4-10% even under load. No rough idle, and it comes back to idle no problems (doesn't die).

Thanks to Zak over at Active for letting me keep him on the phone for an hour on Friday evening. Also - I've never had Zak not respond to an email or a phone call. He's on top of it. Going to arrange some dyno time this week and get it final tuned. I'll keep you guys updated.

Anyone looking to take care of this yourselves (meaning clear your adaptations) - just go look here for installing the INPA software (older BMW software). This is all you need to clear the pesky adaptations. That, and a $30 cable from ebay (just search for INPA BMW USB and you'll get a list).